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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 32 JAN. 14-20, 2022 BTR
Doctor works abroad
and returns to his roots
BY JASON COHEN
Dr. Julian Lildharrie studied for
his medical degree abroad, where international
medical graduates like
him comprise 40% of New York’s entire
doctor workforce.
Lildharrie, 34, who grew up in Norwood
and resides in Pelham Bay, is
currently an internal medicine resident
at St. John’s Riverside Hospital
in Yonkers. He did his undergrad at
City College of New York, a master’s
degree at Stony Brook and his medical
education at St. George’s University in
Grenada.
In 2013, Lildharrie was among 20
New York City students who received
scholarships totaling $2.4 million to
attend St. George’s University School
of Medicine under the fi rst year of the
CityDoctors scholarship program. In
return, the students committed to give
back to their communities by practicing
primary care medicine at a New
York City Health and Hospitals Corporation
(HHC) hospital after receiving
their medical degrees.
“Studying abroad gave me the focus
and privilege to treat people in
an area that don’t have access to resources,”
Lildharrie said.
Lildharrie was fi rst exposed to the
medical fi eld when he volunteered at
the Children’s Hospital at Montefi ore
(CHAM) while he was a student at
Fordham Prep. At CHAM, he played
video games with kids and tried to
normalize their stay there as much as
possible. Lildharrie also leaned that
there are various roles in medicine.
“I thought all doctors were family
practice doctors,” he said. “Those
volunteer activities were a big part of
who I was.”
Prior to volunteering, Lildharrie
had dreams of playing for the New
York Yankees, being a cop or teacher.
But he soon knew the medical fi eld
was his calling.
His path in life changed while obtaining
his master’s degree in physiology
and biophysics at Stony Brook
University. It was there where he saw
an ad for the City Doctor’s program at
St. George’s University and was immediately
intrigued because his family
is West Indian.
So, after receiving the scholarship,
Lildharrie uprooted his life to Grenada,
where he spent two years studying.
He enjoyed his time abroad, minus
one small thing.
“It was entirely worth it, but they
don’t have bodegas there,” he said.
During that time, he also got engaged
to his wife Devi, a health care
professional with Weill Cornell Medicine/
NYP, who has played a major
role in his career.
“We have known each other since
our teenage years,” the doctor said.
“She most defi nitely encouraged me to
enter medicine as it is a long and arduous
journey with many opportunities
Bronx resident Dr. Julian Lildharrie went to
medical school at St. George’s University in
Grenada.
to forgo becoming a physician. She
always pushed me to follow through
with my mother’s guidance to learn
more.”
He did his last two years of medical
school at Lincoln Hospital in the
South Bronx and will fi nish his residency
at St. John’s Riverside in June
2022.
According to Lildharrie, nothing
in his training at St. George’s or Lincoln
could have prepared him for the
turmoil, devastation and death that
the COVID-19 pandemic brought.
“It often felt like a horror fi lm or
movie,” he said. “Medicine is medicine
and there are standards of care.
But with COVID all of that went out
the window. A lot of the time it felt like
we were putting out fi res.”
However, the one bright spot was
seeing the massive food donations by
restaurants and residents to the hospital.
The doctor remembered seeing his
fi rst COVID case in March 2020 and
then boom, it felt like everyone was in
the hospital clinging to life on a respirator.
In one of the early days of the
pandemic, an Uber driver who drove
the National Guard when there was a
COVID-19 outbreak in New Rochelle,
arrived in the hospital sick.
“I am downstairs all geared up and
there’s a guy who is an Uber driver
and he’s shouting I can’t breathe,”
Lildharrie said. “He said doctor, I did
what I could, please do your part now.”
Looking ahead, Lildharrie knows
that the toughest part of his career
is likely behind him. Now, thanks to
his education in Grenada and the infl
uence of his dad, Clarence and late
mom, Sandra, he is ready to help people
for years to come.
“It’s defi nitely a privilege to be in
the position I’m in,” the doctor said.
“She’d (his mom) tell me if you had an
opportunity to learn to do anything,
do it.”
Est. 1940
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